A shortage of engineers applying for jobs with local government agencies, where some positions have been open for more than a year, means more departments are turning to outside contracts to get work done.
That could end up costing local government departments up to three times as much as doing the work in-house, said Jeff Nichols, a controller who oversees employee services for the Pima County Department of Wastewater Management.
In the Wastewater Department, 21 of 58 engineering positions are open.
Priscilla Cornelio, director of the Pima County Department of Transportation, said her department has seven open engineering positions. “We don’t even get applications submitted,” she said.
Pay plays a role in the government shortage.
“What we have found in the past is that despite the fact that the Tucson Department of Transportation is the best place in the world to work, we are not necessarily in a position to compete with the private sector,” said Transportation Director Jim Glock.
But even though the private companies usually can pay more, they also have trouble recruiting all the people they need, said Mike Barton, transportation section manager for the Tucson division of HDR, a national engineering and architecture firm.
“We do have openings right now, and with the workload, we are projecting openings,” Mr. Barton said. “Good people are hard to find. It’s not just a Tucson issue but a national issue.”
He said infrastructure issues are becoming a national focus, and on top of that, a voter-approved Regional Transportation Plan will drive the need for engineers locally.
The Regional Transportation Plan will increase the number of projects in the area, and departments will need more people to oversee them, he said.